NVIDIA recently announced a dual-core version of its ARM Tegra APU. NVIDIA was the first to release an APU, but the ARM core aboard Tegra is incompatible with Windows 7. (Source: Reuters)

Look out AMD, you aren't the only incoming SoC solution anymore

AMD
looks to soon capitalize on its success as the new sales king of the
GPU market, by launching in early 2011 its
"Fusion" products, which puts a GPU and CPU together on
a single die.

At the IFA
2010 trade show in Germany this week, AMD showed
off an 18W TDP Fusion system-on-a-chip (SOC) solution.
The chip combines dual Bobcat cores with
AMD graphics, in what AMD calls an Accelerated Processing Unit
(APU).

The product is codenamed "Zacate"
and looks like it could make a splash on the notebook scene thanks to
its ability to decode 1080p video and play modern video games (all on
a lean power budget). Such a processor would be particularly
desirable to ultra-portable designs.

Unfortunately for AMD it
isn't the only one cooking up an APU. Bloomberg is reporting that
Intel Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini will show off his own
company's take on a GPU+CPU SOC at the Intel
Developer Forum in San Francisco next week.

The
announcement creates in an interestingly competitive scenario -- AMD
arguably has more GPU experience and the better graphics hardware
technology. But Intel has had superior
CPU processing per dollar for some time now.

John
Taylor, a spokesman for the Sunnyvale, California-based AMD is quick
to note his company's graphics edge, stating, "There are decades
of research and design that goes into our discrete graphics.
Intel has yet to deliver a product that has discrete-level
performance. Right now, it’s just claims."

Of course
those are bold words coming from a company that has experienced
plenty of delays of its own in the past.

Intel is reportedly
confident that it can outcompete AMD in terms of price. But its
integrated graphics processors thus far have been far from stellar
performers, to say the least. So who will pull off the APU
upset? The CPU champion, or the GPU grandmaster? The
financial stakes are high and the market is wide open; customers can
eagerly await a hard fought battle and the release of some exciting
new options in 2011.